Ottawa Foodies

We got the rudest service ever from the restaurant hostess yesterday.

She was openly offensive to my wife and I from the moment we stepped in the door. She seemed personally insulted that we had the nerve to step into her workplace. She did not say hello, simply came up to us after us waiting at the door for a couple of minutes to be seated and demanded abruptly "are there only two of you????", to which we replied "yes". She showed us to a table and threw the menus down.
After waiting for about 5 minutes after deciding what we wanted to eat, we were finally able to wave her over from the bar. She stormed up to us and abruptly said "can I help you with something?", with a look as if we'd just spit in her face. "Yes, we'd like to order." No reply. My wife said, "I'd like a french onion soup." To which the hostess replied, "Is that it?????". "Uh, I'd like a chocolate milkshake", I said. I got the look as if a chocolate milkshake had personally offended her earlier that day, then she demanded again, "IS THAT IT???". "Uhh.... Yes." And she stormed away. The rest of the stay, we were helped by a perfectly pleasant server and the food was just fine.

BUT, we've never been so personally insulted in our lives for simply showing up at someone's workplace and assuming that they might do their job.
If you go to Dunn's and a rather large, grumpy looking girl greets you at the door. RUN AWAY!! If we had not been craving their french onion soup that we haven't been able to have in over a year because we've been out of the country, we would have left after her offensive order taking!

Dunn's needs to do some house cleaning before we decide to go back there again!

Had a terrible time at the Dalhousie Street location about a month ago. Sure it just opened a little while ago, but this was just goddawful. I will be sticking to Zak's in the market or Mello's down the street.

Everything took forever to come out, despite it not being busy and it all looked like it had been sitting out.

My fries were cold and the gravy had skin on the top (as in it had been sitting out and cooled)

Our friend didn't get the mashed potatoes that came with his meal. When he asked for them, they came out hot on the outside and freezing cold in the middle. Then he was charged EXTRA (3$!) for something that was included with his meal (we double checked the menu)

One friend repeatedly asked for her french fries, which never came (nor was she charged for them).

Another girl never received the garlic bread that came with her meal and as we were LEAVING the waitress asked if she wanted to WAIT FOR IT so she could take it to go. Uh, no?

I will never return.

Usually a quiet meal out by myself is a treat. I have 3 kids so a meal by myself is no hardship at all. However, one of the things that makes eating by yourself suck...is when staff ignore your table.
I was greeted by one of the host and seated promptly with a menu. Between 5 and 10 minutes later I took a magazine out of my bag to look through. When well over 10 minutes had passed I had to get up and walk over to one of the staff standing idle at the bar and ask "who do you have to know to get some coffee?" It's one thing to be ignored in a busy restaurant, or after you've been fed, but I did not even have coffee yet....and the staff outnumbered the customers.
Breakfast arrived promptly enough once my order had been taken. I'll break it down for you:

Coffee: Nasty, cheap coffee service coffee. A trip to Planet Coffee for a latte after got the taste out of my mouth for me.
Eggs: Perfectly cooked, all 3.
Bacon: Perfect
Potatoes: How can something have an aftertaste, without actually having a taste in the first place? I've never had to put so much salt on anything deep fried before. I did not eat them.

Service: I had to go looking for someone to serve my table. There were 2 host staff, at least 2 servers, a server on break and a supervisor all in the dining room as I sat there. My "never again" list is short, but this place just earned a spot.

What a mistake! Took my out of town family here on Sunday, 6 adults and 2 kids. The service was ok and we got seated right away at the back. Pushed a couple tables together with one being super wobbly. It took awhile for our server to come and get our drink orders, quite slow I thought since the place was maybe half full. After we got our drinks, she took our food orders and they didn't take long to arrive. The coffee was strong (I like it strong but...) and really burnt and old tasting. I couldn't even finish one cup. All of us thought the same thing.
3 of us ordered eggs benedict, 2 ham, 1 florentine. They screwed up and brought 2 florentine and 1 ham...sent it back and we thought it would take forever for them to correct it, but it came back right quite quickly. The other orders were standard breakfast fare, french onion soup, kids spaghetti, and kids pogo and fries. All the meals were luke warm AT BEST and the hollandaise sauce was weird tasting. Even my niece didn't like her spaghetti. The fries and homefries were deep fried in old oil, and if you've ever tasted that, you instantly know.
After the meals, all 3 of us who had the benedicts, didn't feel well. Lots of stomach rumbling and cramping.
So, needless to say, I'm never going back there. And being the person I am, I was kicking myself all day for choosing to bring my family there!! Grrrr.

The atmosphere in Dunn's is nothing special but you don't come here for the decor. The smoked meat is absolutely mouth-watering!!!

On an almost weekly basis, I now go to Dunn's for a lunchtime sandwich (the one on Queen St) and it never fails to disappoint! The meat absolutely melts in your mouth and is SO flavourful!

I've had the classic smoked meat, the smoked salmon sandwich and the reuben. All are divine -- the reuben especially!

Combo plates are quite economic -- includes two sides -- either fries which are super greasy but yummy, a cole slaw which looks anything but fresh, potato salad which is also less than desirable or a salad which is pretty simple but still a healthy option. With the exception of the lack of quality sides, you get a drink with your meal which basically makes it all worthwhile!

My only real complaint, apart from the sides, is that not all plates come with a pickle. But no worries, you can always order one -- they are big so you may want to share.

Even typing this post makes my mouth water!

Fruit bowl and bagel my boyfriend had.

We went to the Dunn's on Elgin street. I had the eggs benedict with smoked salmon ($10.99) and I thought it was average. The bagel was doughy...I didn't really like it. And I don't know if its just me, but the Hollondaise sauce tastes funny. The home fries were all right. I didn't like their coffee either.

My friend ordered the fruit and bagel ($4.99) and a glass of orange juice (he said it was good!). The fruit came in a large bowl - but unfortunately it wasn't very fresh.

The decor was nice - and the service was mediocre...

Classic smoked meat lunch counter. Very spacious, great place for lunch. Love the Miss Montreal (smoked meat and cream cheese on pumpernickel). They have good breakfasts too.

The portions are very generous and the platters tend to be too much food sometimes. Oh - and for some reason the fries aren't very good. I can't figure this one out.